Although I practiced daily, I couldn't blog for over a week due to a major injury that cut up my hands and one finger in particular. It happened on the first official practice day at a Yoga training. 

I was skipping across the Shala in the early hour of morning and didn't see a glass door shut. I ran through it. After morphine and 30 stitches on my hands, feet and leg, I spent a week hobbling around and working consistently to maintain a positive and optimistic outlook.

You see, being a positive person does not happen automatically. It is a decision, in fact, it is many decisions happening in succession over the course of a day, which become habitual.

Here are a few decisions I made about what happened (and their "vs." alternatives I could have slipped into otherwise):

It was an accident that could have happened to anyone and it somehow involved me (vs. I have such bad luck).

It happened for a reason. I was unable to practice on the mat but then I had more time to reflect on other teachings and practice humility (vs. what the hell am I going to do now? or poor me).

Changing bandages and staying out of the pool and the sea were ways I could be a good mother to myself--to nurture myself and caution myself (vs. I can't go in the water and I am so sick of changing these bandages two times a day).

I'm going to carry on and not feed drama or 'you poor thing' comments about this (vs. good now I get attention or can really suck off the feelings of others).

I am really, really, REALLY lucky that none of the glass slashed my face, eyes, throat, gut, tendons, ligaments or anything that would spell permanent damage (vs. poor me or look at all this damage).

Through these decisions, this positive attitude, I have seen my wounds heal with great speed and at the same time have experienced a deepened sense of confidence--of confiding in myself.  

I am certain that these decisions were made and maintained and consciously approached because of my seated practice. I was able to rekindle a sense of peace in situations I never would have dreamed of  before, including getting stitches in my finger and changing bandages on it when it was totally mangled.

Although it is difficult, being grateful for what you have--even the challenges that crop up--is a choice that greatly enriches your life. You don't miss any of it if you deeply root into what you have and praise it. The miracle of the body's ability to heal, for instance, or the mind's ability to discriminate between useful thoughts and rubish thinking. These are inborn gifts and the basis for a full life. 

I hope everyone has had an amazing month of discovering the later gift especially. I know I have, and I am ready to continue this 'challenge' for the rest of my life--only fully realized through such awakening as we have pursued, together. Thank you, Sharon and  Ambika for the invite back. You have no idea what it meant to me this month.

In Gratitude,

Emily